


What Were You Thinking?

by bioloyg



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College, College AU, Fluff, Lab Partners, M/M, One Shot, Stiles is a science nerd, and a nerd in general, derek is a sweetie, everyone is human, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-19 18:50:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3620481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bioloyg/pseuds/bioloyg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the AU: “mY CHIPS WOULDN’T COME OUT OF THE VENDING MACHINE AND I GOT MAD AND TRIED TO GRAB IT BUT NOW MY HAND’S STUCK AND PLS STOP LAUGHING AT ME THIS IS V SERIOUS IM GOIG TO CRy”</p>
<p>Stiles and Derek are lab partners.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Were You Thinking?

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I like College AU's a lot a lot and I think Stiles and Derek as lab partners is probably one of my favorite things. Hopefully you enjoy <3

Here's the thing, they looked close enough. Really, they did. But of course vision is always 20/20 in hindsight and now Stiles can tell that he's capital s Screwed. His arm is stuck. Of course his dumb ass just had to leave the jacket on when he reached inside the vending machine door to get to those  _stupid fucking_   **chips**.

He was so hungry. Chemistry labs were always three hours long and his TA never failed to use up every last minute. He had been running a little late this morning so he didn't have time to grab a bite to eat like he usually did, so what does he do when lab is finally over? He rushes to the nearest vending machine. It's quick and just enough to tide him over until he can get an actual meal an hour down the line.

But he's stuck **,** his chips are stuck, and the world sucks.He had snapped and kicked the machine like it had wronged him personally. He was crashing hard from the lack of food and he was grumpy and he  _needed_ that bag of Doritos. That bag of Doritos was gonna get him through one of Mr. Harris' longwinded monologues that was bound to happen next period. So, he did the stupid thing thinking, "oh this can't possibly go wrong," and stuck his arm in to get the chips.

As if the gods weren't having enough fun on his behalf already, now his super hot lab partner is coming down the hall. _Super. Peachy. Really really great,_ Stiles thinks. This isn't how he pictured his day going at all. All of this just because he decided to watch that one episode of Broad City and somehow that turned into four and suddenly it was three in the morning and - 

"Stiles?" Derek's looking down at him with his stupid beautiful green and gold flecked eyes with his eyebrows raised and - damn Stiles really needs to get his life in order.

"Heyyyyy Derek. How's it going?"

The man smirks. "Uh, good. What are you doing?" He takes a step closer and Stiles wants to scream. Why isn't he leaving? Why is he choosing now to have a conversation? Really.

"Me? Oh nothing, just - y'know - hanging around." He shrugs and immediately regrets it because it pulls on his trapped arm.

Derek keeps getting closer and if Stiles didn't like him so much he'd have half the mind to kick him away. "Are you. Are you stuck on that?" His grin is growing now.  _Jerk_.

Stiles turns toward the machine and pouts before turning back. "Nope, just reaching for my chips." He points up at them in a show and shrugs again. He's starting to hate his reflexive indifference because it's causing him great pain at the moment.

His lab partner nods carefully. "So, if I leave now you'll be fine?"

"Yep, fine and dandy. Fit as a fiddle and ready to go." He clamps his lips between his teeth to shut himself up. He gets kind of blabby around Derek. It's a curse to be honest.

"Okay," Derek says loftily. Like he  _knows_. Stiles kicks himself internally for getting caught with his hand in a vending machine. "I'll see you in lecture." And he leaves, finally leaves.

Stiles heaves a long and suffering sigh but silently thanks the remaining benevolent gods. He turns to his arm and tugs a little and the door digs into his arm even more.

"This is like god damn Chinese handcuffs," He grumbles.

He tries turning his arm and the door jams into the crook of his elbow. A whimper gurgles up and past his lips and he hits his head against the glass pane. He tries sticking his other hand in to help himself and almost has a panic attack when that too almost gets trapped.

"Knew you were caught."

He slams his head against the machine, startled. "Holy fuck! Warn a guy. Were you watching that whole time?"

Derek is smiling. The smiling turns to a light chuckle and then outright laughter. Stiles pictured that smile a lot, like a lot a lot. It's bright, free of all cares, and such a great contrast from Derek's resting state. He kind of feels like he's looking at someone different when it happens.

Right now is not the time he wanted to make Derek laugh, or smile. "Okay yeah, super hilarious I know. Local hungry nerd gets his arm caught in a vending machine in a fit of desperation. Tell all your friends, please, but can you laugh somewhere else?" He turns away and tugs at his arm again, gaining a little leeway when he finally angles it so he can resume pulling. Sure it hurts like hell, but there's nothing like the burn of your super hot crush laughing at you to take the edge off.

Speaking of which, he's not leaving. In fact, he's crouched down beside Stiles now. "Hey. I'm sorry."

He doesn't look at him, just tugs a little more. "S'fine."

Derek lets out a huff beside him. "No, it's obviously not." He pushes Stiles' free hand away from the slot and levels him with a look. Stiles gives in and faces him and Derek continues, "You're not a nerd."

He snorts, "Yeah okay."

Another sigh. "Look, if you think you're a nerd that's one thing, but I don't. I think you're incredibly smart."

Stiles rests his head against the machine and grimaces, looking up. "Can we not do this right now? I don't  _feel_ very smart."

Derek shrugs, all nonchalance and elegance, "Hunger clouds everyone's judgement. That's how some of the first humans died."

Ugh, leave it to this total hottie to be sweet too. Stiles is gonna combust if this keeps on. He's _so_ moping tonight and ordering himself a pizza, Scott's workout routine be damned. "Yeah, I'm sure hundreds fell victim to the cursed vending machine."

His deep throaty chuckle is just as damaging as his bright eyes are up close. Stiles wishes he could disappear because Derek is getting closer and closer and - wait did he just pull Stiles' arm out? "Well, at least you've managed to survive. You'll pass on your genes and make even more fit humans that won't get caught in them."

Stiles outright laughs as he stares at his arm in disbelief. He tears the lab coat off and looks at the angry red line where he'd been caught and then to Derek, "How?"

The man stands and shrugs again, "Training to be a surgeon. I have to be good with my hands," he wiggles his fingers and smiles again. It should be embarrassing how quickly Stiles' thoughts go to the gutter but they're his thoughts and no one can hear them. No one.

Stiles stands, rubs at his arm, and smiles faintly. "Thanks."

Derek's still watching his arm and then he tugs on it, bringing Stiles closer to look at it. He frowns, "You might want to put some ice on it. It's probably gonna bruise from when you were twisting it."

"I'll be sure to have some one kiss it better doc, thanks. I'm good now." He pulls it back gently but Derek stops him. He brushes a thumb over the spot for a moment and then he does it. He kisses the irritated skin gently and pats his hand before releasing him _._

"Uh."  _Eloquent. Real eloquent Stiles._

He curses himself again but before he can respond Derek is walking to the stairs, waving, "See you later. I'm late for class."

Stiles just gapes after him like a fish out of water until he realizes that he's late for class too. "Shit!" 

~

He's lying down on the floor of their apartment staring at the ceiling when Scott comes home from the gym looking winded. He comes into the living room and smiles down at him before taking a sip of water and letting out a long breath. “How’s it going?”

Stiles looks away from the face he’d identified in the vast sea of dots above him and frowns, “Not good, Scottie. Not good at all.”

Scott, the angel that he is, plops down beside Stiles to stare at the ceiling too. “What happened?”

“I got my arm caught in a vending machine.”

His best friend chokes on his spit, “WHAT?”

Stiles sighs brings his arm up, “I couldn’t get my chips and since I woke up late this morning I didn’t get to eat and I was super hungry and my chips got stuck and I had to get them so I stuck my arm in and got caught.” He takes a deep breath in and then finishes with, “And then I was late for class.”

Scott’s eyebrows are practically touching the other side of the room. “Wow, anything else?”

Stiles frowns, “Yeah my stupid crush is the one that set me free.”

“Derek? What did he do?”

“He laughed.”

Scott glares into the distance, “Want me to punch him?”

Stiles shrugs, “Nah. He apologized, but it still kinda stung.”

“What else?”

Stiles turns and draws his eyebrows down. “What do you mean?”

Scott sits up so he can look down at him, “You only stare at the ceiling when you’re trying to figure out problems or solve something and you need a blank canvas to lay your thoughts out on.”

He wriggles his lips from side to side in thought. “You know me too well.”

“S’my job. We’re best friends.”

Stiles punches his leg and then mumbles, “He kissed my arm,” after a few seconds.

Scott practically beams, “I knew he liked you back. Ha!”

Stiles sits up, “No, no, no. That does not mean he likes me. He was probably just trying to make me feel dumb cause I joked and said I’d have someone kiss it.”

“So _he_ kissed it?” Scott asks incredulously.

“It’s nothing.”

Scott grabs his shoulders, “It’s not nothing.”

Stiles bats him away and lifts his eyebrows, “Yes. It is nothing.”

“Stiles. He asked if he could come over to study and then you two ended up talking shit about your professor for an hour. I don't think you even studied in the end.”

He scoffs, “And? Everyone does that every once in a while.”

“And the time he brought you coffee?”

Stiles looks up with his mouth open for a minute before he can get out, “He probably got it for free cause he’s so gorgeous.”

“So how did he know your order?”

Stiles shoves at his shoulders playfully. “Scott, my order is black coffee. That's like the ultimate default."

Scott rolls his eyes and pushes himself up by his knees. “Whatever, dude. I’m gonna go shower. Tell me if you figure out I’m right when you’re done staring at the ceiling.”

~

He was hoping he could slink into class unnoticed. He kind of makes it. He gets to his usual spot and keeps his headphones in, reading over his notes from the last lecture to refresh his memory. He moves his seat accordingly as people pass around him and taps his pen. It isn't until class is about to start that he pulls out his headphones and notices who's beside him.

Derek's back to his usual countenance. Hard lines and seriousness. When he lifts an eyebrow at Stiles his glance softens. "Hey."

Stiles bobs his head once in response and turns back to his notes.

A thumb brushes gently across his arm and his mind stutters to a halt as the voice beside him asks, "How's your arm feeling?"

He looks up warily. "Uh - good. Thanks."

Derek nods and picks at the paper in front of him before trying again, "Listen, I wasn't laughing at -"

"Alright folks, today we're going to be covering alcohols, phenols, and more."

Stiles looks forward and shrugs it off, "It's fine. Whatever it was."

~

He wasn't mad, honest. But he also didn't want to talk about... it. It was embarrassing, and Derek may have irritated him but he apologized after. Stiles wasn't one to hold grudges against the people he actually liked, there were few of them to begin with. Derek didn't seem to get that memo, and it felt like he was overcompensating while being withdrawn all at once.

Derek had been skirting around the lab getting everything. He got the acid, he got the jacketed condenser and the conical vial and the spin vane and he set everything up. If Stiles even so much as tried to get something he'd swoop in, tell Stiles to do something simpler, and be gone again.

He stops him after class. "Listen, I don't know if you did that whole lab because you think I'm dumb now or what but could you cut it out? I can get the damn lab done."

Derek flounders right before his eyes. Face going slack and mouth opening but not working.

He rolls his eyes, "I can write the lab report since you did everything. I'll email it to you so you can check it if you want."

"That's not - I just." He groans and rubs a hand down his face. "I felt bad. I - You still seem mad?" He tries.

Stiles snorts, "Well I'm not. I was over it a minute after you said you were sorry. I just don't want to talk about it."

"I'm sorry." He sounds mournful almost but he's visibly deflated.

Stiles looks him up and down, "Stop saying that." 

His scowl returns and Stiles can't help but smirk in return. "There you are. Back to normal." He shrugs the straps of his backpack into a more comfortable position before shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. "Well, I'll see you later."

All Derek does is watch him go.

~

Stiles finds himself staring up at the ceiling again when someone knocks on his door. He knows it isn't Scott. He's visiting his girlfriend. And boyfriend. Stiles pauses in his thoughts and pushes himself up on his arms, tempted to yell and see who it is, but he doesn't just incase it's someone he doesn't like.

The knock sounds again and he stands up fully now. He slides over to the door and looks through the peephole. It's - Derek? He opens the door, confusion masking his features. "What are you doing here?"

He has his hands jammed into his leather jacket and he's rocking on the balls of his feet almost anxiously. "I texted you. I figured I could help you with the lab."

Stiles looks at his phone where it rests on the kitchen counter and sighs, "Shit, sorry, I was thinking."

Derek looks past him and at the ceiling where post-its have been arranged into neat lines. "Can I come in?"

He flinches back, "Yeah, yeah." Then he seems to catch up. "Wait I - I said I could finish the lab report on my own."

His lab partner frowns, "I can help, Stiles."

"I was kind of working on something else right now, not the lab."

Derek lifts his eyebrows then, a more guarded expression falling across his face. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No!" He says a little too quickly. He amends, "No it's fine. I can come back to it."

The man nods slowly, almost disbelieving. "What were you working on?"

Stiles looks back to him, already distracted by the post-its and their secrets, "Huh? Oh. It's a math problem. Extra credit for Calc."

Derek's expression sours and his upturned nose is kind of endearing. "You're doing math for fun?"

"Whoa, no one said fun. I said 'extra credit'. The implications being I need extra credit for Calc."

He still looks like he doesn't believe him and Stiles sighs adding, "Okay, I don't need to, but I am."

"So, for fun?"

He ignores him for a moment and then, "Lab report."

Derek nods all while looking about the room. "Scott here?"

"Nah. He's gone for the weekend."

"Cool." He gets a little more comfortable, taking off his jacket.

Stiles is mildly ashamed at the way his breath catches at the sight of Derek in that form hugging shirt. He clears his throat and says, "I'll just - go get my laptop. Be back in a sec."

~

Over the course of the two hours since they started they've been at the kitchen counter, the couch, and now they're on the floor. Derek has his back against the couch and the laptop on his legs while Stiles stares up at the notes on the ceiling. Derek's typing up the few bits of the procedure Stiles didn't get a chance to work through because  _someone_ did all the work.

There's a lull in the _clack clack clack_ of the keys and he looks over only to catch Derek looking at him. A slew of emotions cross over his face and then he's back to the laptop, now with a faint shade of pink dusting his cheeks.

Stiles raises an eyebrow and turns back to the question above. He only lasts a few seconds before he gives in and turns back to Derek. "What was it?"

Derek pauses, he looks lost. "What do you mean?"

"What was it? You looked like you wanted to say something." Stiles turns onto his stomach to face him without having to strain his eyes.

He looks back down at the keys and his fingers skirt over them. "Nothing."

Stiles squints, "If you have a question I can help you."

"It's not that kind of question," Derek mutters under his breath.

He picks himself up and turns around to sit next to Derek before elbowing him and looking at the screen, "So you _do_ have a question. What is it, c'mon?" _  
_

When Derek is silent for a few minutes and he can't see anything wrong on the page he looks up. Derek's brows are furrowed and his ocean eyes are searching, almost imploring. His breath gets caught in his throat and he backs up. "Sorry, didn't mean to invade y-"

Lips. They're actually not as soft as he was expecting, it's like they're only smooth in one direction. Like the resistance you get from shaving against the grain. He pulls back with wide eyes, "Uh."  _Damn it not again. Words! Use your words._

Derek looks horrified, like he just saw someone kick a dog. "Sorry - Sorry I."

He finishes for him, "Didn't mean to do that either, huh?" He scoots away and stands up. "All good. Just uh, do you mind if we finish this up later? Gettin' kinda tired," he says faking a yawn.

He's spun around and the lips are on his again, it's still a shy kiss but with a hint of firmness. Derek pulls back and his eyes are warm and stern all at once as he breathes out an irritated huff, "I definitely meant to do that. I just meant to ask first."

Stiles just nods wordlessly while he waits for his words to catch up with him. Derek has his arms in his hands and somehow in the midst of it all Stiles' hands ended up on Derek's waist. He pulls them back quickly. "Any particular reason you did that?"

Derek all but rolls his eyes. "Because I like you." He looks like he might start chuckling in a minute.

"Okay. Alright. And you chose that moment because?" He's rubbing his arm bashfully and Derek lets his hands fall.

"You were calm."

"Calm?"

"Yes."

Stiles snorts, "Okay."

Derek leans in slow, "You had this look on your face," his lips brush across Stiles' slightly, "Like you were in awe. And that was just for a math problem. You should see the look you get in class when you finally get something." And Derek kisses him slowly, conveying that same reverie Stiles has for the fields of science in his touch.

"Whoa."

He smirks.

"That was. Really nice." Derek's smile softens and he nods in agreement. Stiles rubs the back of his head and tries to wipe the stupid smile off his face. Who is he kidding? He's practically beaming. "Well, I guess Scott was right."

"Hmm?"

"He said you liked me."

"You didn't believe him?" Derek looks frustrated, but in the cute way, like a dog who has to wait to go to the park.

He shrugs and looks up, "Yeah, I mean. I just didn't think you'd go for someone like me. I don't know, you're nice but I thought it was  _just_ nice."

Derek lifts his eyebrow. "I got you coffee."

"I thought it was just coffee! Not relationship coffee."

He does laugh, quick and light, before he rolls his eyes and says, "Well let me be a little more forward then. Stiles, I like you." He looks at him for a second and then adds, "A lot."

Stiles throws his hands up, "Thank you! You gotta lay it out, man. I'm not good at knowing stuff like that."

"Coming from the kid with an A in Organic Lecture."

He groans, "Oh whatever, you have an A too."

Derek crosses his arms, something serious crossing his face, "But do I have you?"

Stiles blushes. He'll never admit to that, but he does and he can only imagine that at this point it's reached his chest. "Yeah. Yeah you totally do. Lab partners and more."

"How about boyfriend?" Derek says, a little more bold.

Stiles steps back into his space and smiles, "That's exactly what I was thinking."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)!
> 
> If you happen to be one of the cool cats following stories I put out, I'm totally working on a bigger one I promise, but it wasn't one that I meant to. I'm accidentally involved in an Apocalypse AU so I hope you guys are moderately okay with that. The Splash AU will probably be right after that though!


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